Finding the Next Home

Wednesday, July 30

From day one, we've been in an apartment in Bukit Batok West (near West Mall Up a stop from the Jurong interchange on MRT). Generously offered by the man who is warehousing our stuff, and the apartment where our bedroom furniture and couches are. It was so sweet, in preparing for us he'd partially renovated the bathroom. In it's incomplete state it's been a gift we're grateful for, but not a place we've been able to feel entirely "at home." Not for big reasons, but a number of little things (like eating out at Hawker centers 7 days in a row because we didn't want to buy groceries and cook in the kitchen with all the roaches and the cupboards full of open bags of potato chips and odds and ends of broken appliance parts. Or maybe the piles of junk from the renovation in the hall, or a mould filled cupboard in the boys room that's made Cameron be congested and sneezing)

The other big surprise was that we have two Filipino guys we've never met sharing the flat with us. Nice guys, but it has meant we lock our bedroom doors when not home, and can't be sure whether we can use more than the one shelf in the fridge for all the other stuff in there...

Each morning we've gotten up and walked downstairs to a kopitiam and purchased a coffee and a newspaper to see what's new in the housing market and if there are any deals on cell phones.

Friday, August 1st

In our first 3 days back to Singapore, there wasn't much advertised in the Clementi area, which is walking distance or a short bus from the kids' school. We've said this is our greatest priority since it's our last home before Tyler goes off to university. We want to be convenient for their school friends to come to our house, rather than going somewhere else that's more convenient. It also makes it nice not to have to send them and pick them up everyday after school or spend a lot of time commuting by public transportation!

The hardest part of this housing search is coming to terms with the fact that prices, which were about equal to the high cost of LA rentals, have doubled in the year we've been away. And we know we should get realistic about what we can afford. However, we know that nothing is impossible with God. So, while waiting to see if the Lord would drop an affordable condominium, duplex/terraced house, or landed property in our laps (oh! wouldn't it be nice to have a pool on the grounds again, or -sigh- a patch of garden where we could have a little of our own outdoor space?).
We started looking at the few places in our budget and tried to keep from getting too depressed. If you don't know, or remember, the last place we stayed was a spacious penthouse on the 23 and 24th floor with a breathtaking view of downtown and the ocean! We knew at the time it was an amazing gift from God and might very well be the nicest place we ever live this side of heaven. We had a year in missionary housing this past year to bring us back to reality, but there's still a part of me that knows if He did it once, he can do it again....

On this Friday, nothing was advertised, so we just did some walking around the Clementi neighborhood to check out what the more-in-our-budget, but still too expensive government housing apartments (HDBs) looked like. We figured there are about 75 HDB buildings within walking distance of the school.

In the whole of Clementi, we found ONE that we thought would be perfect.
It was the only block within a few miles around the school which we found having a combination of a number things on our wish list:

• older (so designed with bigger rooms)
• 3 bedrooms
• not surrounded and blocked in by other tall concrete apartments
• away from the loud noises and dirt of traffic or the trains
• pretty grounds and not all concrete
• a quick walk to shopping and a hawker center

Sitting in the common area of the ground floor of this ONE IDEAL BLOCK, I sent a text message to our realtor and said, "Let's start praying for a rental to come available in Block 356." It would be like finding a needle in a haystack since these HDBs are rarely available for rent. And even if she did find something in this one block, the chances that inside would be something we'd like are also kind of slim.

In Ephesians 3:20 Paul prayed, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine!" We've prayed this prayer more than once and know that he is able if he wills.

Saturday, August 2nd

I wasn't going to let the housing market dampen my intention to trust that God is going to provide for our needs. He always has, he already knows where we're going to live, and he is not going to let us be homeless! Though I'm dreaming for a garden and convenient pool, Jim says he'd actually prefer an HDB over the condos or anything larger or nicer. It's what we lived in our first 6 years here. He says even if we got a condo on our budget, which is very unlikely, he'd be more comfortable in and HDB because then we're living like 95% of the rest of Singaporeans. He feels it makes him have more common ground with those he serves. I know I can be content in just about anything after our two years in a Chinese dorm and 6 years in HDBs. I'm open to anything that the Lord shows us to be his will for us.

With Jim's encouragement, I went off to join a 24 hour playwright competition hosted by one of the Theatre companies in town. This is something I did 8 years ago - a highlight of our first difficult year here. It was my first time writing a play and I won "Special Mention." Since then I've been studying more, and even teaching playwriting a few times. So, I thought spending 24 hours in some uniquely Singaporean venue, with other Singaporeans who are also writing a play in 24 hours might be a good way to celebrate coming back to Singapore!

Sunday, August 3rd

Sunday afternoon, as the competition was winding down, I was spell checking and formatting my masterpiece, and I got a text from the real estate agent. She had found a rental in block 356, the very block we'd wished for, and we were set to go see it in 2 hours! AMAZING.

I met Jim, the kids, and the realtor at the same common area from 2 days before. She called the owners agent to let him know we were there and he told her he'd just signed an agreement with anther renter the hour before and hadn't called her to cancel our appointment.

Sigh.

Well, she told him, we were already there. She asked him if he'd let us see the place anyway since we'd come all the way down to see it.













The 5th floor apartment had everything on our wish list above and more:

• Space enough for an office/desk for me in the hall area
• air conditioned bedrooms (we hadn't even dared to wish for air con in the hall/living room but this one had it)
• Fridge and washer dryer, but mostly unfurnished (okay, we needed a twin bed and closets - called "wardrobes" which were here)
• a short walk to the public pool, train station, bus interchange and grocery shopping.
• Built in cabinets and flooring in a style we actually like!

We went downstairs after seeing the place. All of us amazed at the timing, how perfect the place seemed, and yet none of us discouraged. God knows and we can trust him.

"Lord," I said my wish and prayer aloud. "If you want us to live here, then you make a way. If this place is meant for us, then let the other deal fall through." We all chuckled at the improbability and suggested a prayer walk around the grounds.

Tuesday, August 5

Tuesday at noon the realtor called again to tell me of a small miracle:

The deal did in fact fall through, and the place is available for us if we'd like it.

How about that?

By 5:00PM yesterday we'd signed the intent to lease, we'd called our movers to get a date, and the wheels are in motion for us to move in August 15th once the owner does some repairs and puts a fresh coat of paint on the place.

The owner even agreed to the last item on our wish list
(one that is rarely agreed to for rentals):

He will allow us to keep a pet!

We had told the boys that when we returned to Singapore we'd get them a dog to replace "Rascal" who died under anesthesia for a tooth extraction the week before we left last year; but only if the landlord allows it. I've been offered TWO Golden Retrievers, but that's not really workable in a small apartment! So, the next installment in this blog will be either how God provides for the dog, or how we find a car...